 |
| Is money the key to success and wealth??? |
Here it is...
Anyone ever look back at high school economics and wished they had paid more attention?
Sometimes I wish I had, for saving the world purposes... And one thing I can recall is what my senior class econ teacher said or asked, more like it, right before taking our last final as seniors... "Would you rather be rich or wealthy?"
And I remember my classmates unequivocally saying "RICH... BITCH" And the teacher said open your books and didn't bring it up again... He looked at the class- almost as if he'd been let down - So the entire time while taking the final I couldn't get the question out of my head -
And then, there it was in the test, "Define Wealth" And because being the studious student I have been my whole life, the answer came easy to me... and without a flinch I answered the question in its textbook context-
BUT then... I went back to that question and answered his verbal question with... I'd rather be wealthy... Wealthy... Wealthy of the mind and spirit.
At graduation he came up to me and said that if those were my thoughts - that I would be making my way out of the "ghetto" soon...
And he put it in quotations... because it always bugged him when fellow classmates would refer to themselves, the school, others and so on so forth as ghetto.
And now as an adult I have grown to dislike it/ hate the word as well - I'm not sure if it's for the same reasons as my econ teacher.
But why have I grown to hate this word? Mainly when people refer to my neighborhood in that context and I understand that the neighborhood I grew up isn't the most ideal place but it is still home to me and many other people.
I cringe especially when people have never spent more than a day along my streets but claim they have "friends that live there" like when making racial jokes and they say "My Ethnicity Here friend totally says they're all like that."
It's an old-age fallacy that people use in order to make their ignorant and insensitive comments toward something that they simply fear and don't bother to understand!
Poor people are not lazy! Poor people are not given the same opportunities! Poor people are not living off the government! Poor people are not only victims of their circumstances! NOT MORE than anyone can say that Rich/Wealthy people are griddy-ass mo' f**kers!
So let me EDUMACATE you! There are more people in this world that are less fortunate than others -
In my zip code alone there were more fore-closures in the late 2000's because of botched up loans and who gets the bail outs... the 1% while my students are left homeless or having to share an apartment with several other family members.
Some of my students working two jobs before the age of 17 trying to simply feed their families (forget trying to buy the latest smart-phone) all the meanwhile graduating high school and trying to figure out a way to give back to their community.
Which brings me to my next point, looking at San Jose alone, my zip code and some surrounding area codes give more of their income back to their community than those in higher brackets....MIND BLOWN! Yeah guess what POOR PEOPLE giving more!
So please people before you're so ready to spew your hatred and indifference toward people that are less fortunate than you - please think back to this story:
There is a man, I have come to know, that has woken up all of his adulthood before the sun comes up to make sure that his kids are fed and works from 4am-5pm job (Sometimes 6pm) and then took on a pizza delivery job from 6pm -11pm - all to just do it all over again the next day and he still finds time to make it to his daughter's milestones and still finds time to make it to his son's baseball games and still finds time to enjoy vacations(sometimes staycations) with his wife - and he might never be able to say he has a six-figure salary but at least my Dad can say that he's had a wealthy life... in mind, body and spirit.
And maybe my Dad gets the last laugh because it turns out he's more fortunate than most!
I have experienced some the world's pleasures and not because I am rich in the monetary sense... But because my wealth comes in two forms; My Mom and My Dad. I'd rather be ghetto/poor on the outside than ghetto/poor in my mind, heart, and spirit. PREACH!
(And I'm not mad, I promise, just disheartened; But I still have hope that people are inherently students and we are all still learning and ALSO please don't get it twisted I understand that we all need money to function - it's just not my only motivation in life)
That is all,
Til next Tuesday
Wedding Dilemma Update...
(As promised every first of the moth)
And I remember my classmates unequivocally saying "RICH... BITCH" And the teacher said open your books and didn't bring it up again... He looked at the class- almost as if he'd been let down - So the entire time while taking the final I couldn't get the question out of my head -
And then, there it was in the test, "Define Wealth" And because being the studious student I have been my whole life, the answer came easy to me... and without a flinch I answered the question in its textbook context-
BUT then... I went back to that question and answered his verbal question with... I'd rather be wealthy... Wealthy... Wealthy of the mind and spirit.
At graduation he came up to me and said that if those were my thoughts - that I would be making my way out of the "ghetto" soon...
And he put it in quotations... because it always bugged him when fellow classmates would refer to themselves, the school, others and so on so forth as ghetto.
And now as an adult I have grown to dislike it/ hate the word as well - I'm not sure if it's for the same reasons as my econ teacher.
But why have I grown to hate this word? Mainly when people refer to my neighborhood in that context and I understand that the neighborhood I grew up isn't the most ideal place but it is still home to me and many other people.
I cringe especially when people have never spent more than a day along my streets but claim they have "friends that live there" like when making racial jokes and they say "My Ethnicity Here friend totally says they're all like that."
It's an old-age fallacy that people use in order to make their ignorant and insensitive comments toward something that they simply fear and don't bother to understand!
Poor people are not lazy! Poor people are not given the same opportunities! Poor people are not living off the government! Poor people are not only victims of their circumstances! NOT MORE than anyone can say that Rich/Wealthy people are griddy-ass mo' f**kers!
So let me EDUMACATE you! There are more people in this world that are less fortunate than others -
In my zip code alone there were more fore-closures in the late 2000's because of botched up loans and who gets the bail outs... the 1% while my students are left homeless or having to share an apartment with several other family members.
Some of my students working two jobs before the age of 17 trying to simply feed their families (forget trying to buy the latest smart-phone) all the meanwhile graduating high school and trying to figure out a way to give back to their community.
Which brings me to my next point, looking at San Jose alone, my zip code and some surrounding area codes give more of their income back to their community than those in higher brackets....MIND BLOWN! Yeah guess what POOR PEOPLE giving more!
So please people before you're so ready to spew your hatred and indifference toward people that are less fortunate than you - please think back to this story:
There is a man, I have come to know, that has woken up all of his adulthood before the sun comes up to make sure that his kids are fed and works from 4am-5pm job (Sometimes 6pm) and then took on a pizza delivery job from 6pm -11pm - all to just do it all over again the next day and he still finds time to make it to his daughter's milestones and still finds time to make it to his son's baseball games and still finds time to enjoy vacations(sometimes staycations) with his wife - and he might never be able to say he has a six-figure salary but at least my Dad can say that he's had a wealthy life... in mind, body and spirit.
And maybe my Dad gets the last laugh because it turns out he's more fortunate than most!
I have experienced some the world's pleasures and not because I am rich in the monetary sense... But because my wealth comes in two forms; My Mom and My Dad. I'd rather be ghetto/poor on the outside than ghetto/poor in my mind, heart, and spirit. PREACH!
(And I'm not mad, I promise, just disheartened; But I still have hope that people are inherently students and we are all still learning and ALSO please don't get it twisted I understand that we all need money to function - it's just not my only motivation in life)
That is all,
Til next Tuesday
Wedding Dilemma Update...
(As promised every first of the moth)
Comments
Post a Comment